Through the first six games of last season, Joe Schoen thought the offensive line performed well enough for the Giants to play winning football. Unfortunately, there were 12 weeks after that.

That's when left tackle Andrew Thomas went down with a season-ending foot injury, restarting a game of musical chairs that no one wanted to play again. After the starting five had played 100 percent of the snaps together to that point, the Giants used 10 different combinations the rest of the way, tying them with the Patriots for the most in the NFL and their 2023 total.

Greg Van Roten, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent, was the only player on the team to line up for every snap on his respective side of the ball. The veteran made 15 starts at right guard and the last two at center – all after signing one week into training camp.

"Obviously, four [starters] are coming back," Schoen said Tuesday morning at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. "The good thing about this time of year is just going through other free agents on other teams, and I always watch them against us. I went back and watched a lot of our games the last few weeks, take the emotion out of it, Monday after a game or any of that stuff, and I'll say early on in those first six games, the line played good enough for us to play winning football. GVR is the one up. I think [Jermaine] Eluemunor played good at right tackle. The roster may look different in two weeks. Right guard is a spot that's open, and we'll talk about is the answer somebody on the roster or do we need to look outside for that."

Who better to assess that position than Chris Snee? The Ring of Honor inductee started 152 games at right guard, including two Super Bowls, and returned to the organization last May as a senior scout just in time to be voted to the Top 100 Players in Giants History.

"Chris has been awesome," Schoen said. "He's been a really good addition. He sits in some of the meetings. He understands the continuity of the group, what it looks like. They had a good O-line when he was here and won a lot of games. We have him going around the country looking at offensive linemen. He'll go to pro days. O-line, D-line, he's going to do both, and then we'll continue to develop him into the other positions. He's sat in all the in all the meetings, draft and free agency. He's put in a lot of work."

Schoen added: "He has a unique perspective on it having played offensive line at a high level on some really good teams. He's been a tremendous resource for us, and I think we'll see dividends from it."

Schoen believes the Giants have the cap space and draft capital to improve the roster, which will look different in two weeks when the new league year begins. Then they will assess their options before players report for the offseason workout program the week of the draft. One of those decisions will include possibly moving fourth-year pro and former seventh overall pick Evan Neal from tackle to guard.

"We'll talk about that," Schoen said. "Once we get through free agency and we see where we are and what we have, we'll talk about how do we get our best five on the field."